Long Lost Relations
by Luna Awesomesauce 1012
Summary: What if Stoick wasn't from Berk, like everyone thought? What if he had a brother who grew up to become King of the land of DunBroch? Well, if it weren't for a sudden roadtrip for Merida's family, they wouldn't have had any idea the other was alive.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

The water lapped against the hull of the ship as it sailed through the rough waters, bright sails contrasting the gloomy grey sky above. A storm seemed to be coming on, but the people on the deck didn't seem concerned. On the contrary, they seemed downright festive. It was a family of four, as well as various crewmembers. The family was easily distinguishable from the regular sailors, with bright, fiery red hair and clothes that suggested their position to be that of royalty or something close. The two children, both quite large for their ages, played through a mock fight with wooden swords. Their parents watched happily, gazing upon their young sons with pride.

"I'm gonna rip your guts out, Fergus!" the younger called out, scowling with frustration. Though hardy and muscular for a child around five years of age, his brother was twice his size and years. Fergus grinned mockingly at his brother, dodging swiftly out of range as the smaller boy lunged forward with his sword.

"Bad form, Stoick," he advised, leaning casually against the mast and easily parrying another attack. Stoick grit his teeth.

"Be careful, you two," their mother said, looking worried. "Don't get too physical or too close to the side of the ship. The sea will jump up and swallow you whole."

"Ah, they'll be fine," her husband chuckled. "They're shaping up to be fine warriors. They know better than to fall into the water."

"Can _you_ control when the ship decides to tilt like a drunken sailor?" The woman crossed her arms and frowned at her husband.

"We know how to _swim_, Mum," Stoick told her, mimicking her position and expression exactly.

"That's right!" their father exclaimed, raising his fist dramatically. "These boys are DunBroch men! There isn't a battle in the world that they can't win! Especially not with their father as the clan leader!"

"Even leaders have their weaknesses," Lady DunBroch sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I just want my boys to be safe."

"We will be," ten-year-old Fergus smiled. "We're just like Dad. 'Cept I'm the better fighter!" He jabbed Stoick in the back with his sword. "I killed you, Stoick!"

That move spurned his brother into action, and Stoick let out an impressive holler. "You did not! That's bloody cheating!"

Lord DunBroch laughed heartily as he watched his children begin to battle once more. His wife rolled her eyes, but smiled tolerably and leaned into the massive man's shoulder. He rubbed her arm lovingly in return.

"They are strong," the woman said, "but I'm worried about the storm. The sea's getting rough; it'd toss young ones right over. I've known far too many grown men lost in such a way."

"Hmm. I guess we could lock em up down in the bowels." Said Lord DunBroch thoughtfully in return. A few minutes passed in silence except for Fergus's and Stoick's sounds of frustration and laughter.

Suddenly, a large waved rocked the ship, throwing many bodies off their feet. The sky had darkened dangerously, and the storm blew over them completely out of nowhere, pelting viciously at the sailors with icy daggers. Wind blew ruthlessly, causing Stoick to stagger a few feet.

Without pausing to think, Lord DunBroch ran over to his sons and scooped them up, one boy in each arm and dashed away, booming out to his wife to follow. The crew was in shock for a mere half second, then scattered in opposite directions, keeping the ship in order. The family flew down into the lower decks. Lord DunBroch set his sons down carefully while his wife caught her breath. The two boys stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment, not bothering to try and hide their sudden fear.

"Dad, what's happening?" Asked Fergus.

"You three stay here. That's a nasty storm above. The best we can do is keep you down here till it's clear." Lord DunBroch said.

"We want to help! Can't we help?" asked Stoick loudly.

"Yeah! We can have that storm gone in no time!" Fergus shouted, agreeing wildly.

"No. You will stay here. Yes, even you Stoick," Lady DunBroch added sternly as Stoick made every sign of doing the exact opposite.

"Dad, please? We can be like you! We'll be like real warriors, Dad!" Stoick said, now turning on his father for support. Fergus was nodding fervently beside his younger brother.

"I'm afraid not, boys. I only want what's best for you and right now, that's staying here. Listen boys, both of you. Come here," he said kneeling down so that he was eye level with his sons, "You will be great warriors someday. I can feel it. You both will be great. You may be chief of a tribe or clan yourselves. Have a beautiful wife, like mine. I know you will be honored by many. But these only come in time, you understand? For now, you must stay here. We must wait and see what the future has in store for us. You understand?"

"Yes, Dad," Fergus and Stoick said together.

With that, Lord DunBroch patted his sons' heads and turned and gave his wife a large kiss on the cheek. She touched his face softly as he turned and climbed up the ladder to the main deck.

There was a moment of silence while the two brothers and the queen listened to the roaring wind and the shouts from the crew members. Fergus and Stoick simultaneously began begging their mother to let them go and help their father.

"No, for the last time Fergus, you can't go! And neither can you Stoick!" Lady DunBroch said exasperated.

"Please? We'll do good Mother, we promise." Fergus argued.

"No."

"How come you won't give us a chance?"

"Stoick, Fergus that's enough."

There was silence among them once more. Fergus and Stoick exchanged glances, and then Fergus asked hopefully," Please?"

Lady DunBroch gave no reply, just gave Fergus a stern look. Suddenly from above on the main deck, they heard a cry of surprise and a dull thud as if someone had been knocked off their feet. They knew that voice as well as they knew their own; it was Lord DunBroch.

"Dad!" shouted Stoick, and before anybody could say anything more, he dashed over to the ladder with surprising speed.

"Stoick, no! Come back now!" screeched Lady DunBroch, but it was too late. Stoick was already racing to the deck. He could hear Fergus run after him, wanting just as badly as Stoick did to help. The two burst onto the deck. The ship was chaos. Men were running in every direction, shouting incomprehensible words, freezing water splashing over the sides of the ship. The wind howled, and the boys could hear the mast and support poles creaking treacherously. The ship pitched, tilted and swerved, making it very difficult to stand straight. Stoick suddenly saw his father attempting to pull himself up from the floor. However, whenever he would try, the ship would pitch more vigorously and he would topple back down. Stoick nudged Fergus and they ran over to their father and tugged at his arm. Lord DunBroch looked up, and when he saw his only sons, shock, anger and fear showed clearly in his brown eyes.

"Fergus, Stoick, what are you- get back down with your mother, what are you thinking?!" Lord DunBroch yelled.

"We're helping! I had to help dad! We heard you fall and we just had to come!" Stoick spluttered.

Lord DunBroch finally managed to pull himself to his feet and began to steer his son to the door that led to lower decks. Fergus wrenched himself free and said," Dad, we're good helpers!"

Behind them, they could hear the clattering of women's shoes running towards the door to the main deck. A second later, Lady DunBroch threw open the door and stared around wildly. When she saw her family, she ran as fast as her high heels would allow. Throwing her arms wide open, he hugged her sons very tightly. She looked up at Lord DunBroch and said, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Now get these two back down below, now! Its mad up here, they'll get blown overboard for sure."

"But we don't want to leave, do we Stoick?" Fergus asked Stoick boldly.

"Go!" Lord DunBroch bellowed.

Lady DunBroch was desperately pulling her sons arms silently begging them to join her, but the two resisted. Lord DunBroch shoved them unceremoniously towards the door. They ran a few paces then staggered as the ship dipped dangerously to the left and back in an instant. A gigantic wave rose up and crashed over the side, submerging the deck in knee-deep water. There was a moment of silence between the family as they tried to regain balance, then the ship tilted almost vertically to the left.

Stoick felt his body go airborne. His eyes watched fearfully as he watched the ship below his feet was replaced by the churning water. He watched his family cry out. His mother was clutching her face, terrified. His brother watched him with very wide eyes and his father, dashed forward and desperately tried to grab hold of him.

"Stoick!" cried Lady DunBroch helplessly reaching out her hand as Stoick was thrown back off the ship and into the freezing water.

The small boy struggled against the powerful waves, to no avail. He knew how to swim, but was unable to win against the strong force of the sea and the manipulative currents. He was weaker than the water, and Stoick realized that with a strong surge of panic. He opened his mouth to scream, but his throat was immediately flooded with cold, salty brine. Stoick could dimly hear his parents shouting for him, but that was the last thing he was aware of before the world went black.

**A/N:**

**Luna: Goodness that's epic. So this story is a How to Train Your Dragon/Brave crossover as you can see, where Stoick and Fergus are long lost brothers. Somehow, later on, they reunite lovingly.**

**Hatsu: Well gosh Luna, WAY TO SPOIL. Yeah, this is a collab by the two of us. We're sisters (I'm Hatsu Yukiya, by the way) who are big fans of these two movies, and we haven't seen anyone else do something with this idea, so here it is. Hiccup and Merida are cousins and you cannot convince us otherwise. Oh, and you should know, Luna is thirteen. Yeah. THIS GIRL RITES GUD WERDS. **

**Luna: Please, please, please review. You can also send us ideas for the story if you want.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Good news, we're going on a road trip."

Fergus burst into the room, where his family was eating breakfast.

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Elinor, looking up from her porridge.

"A road trip? Ooh, where?" asked Merida excitedly, carefully pulling one of her little brothers from her leg.

"I'm not sure, where exactly, somewhere far up north," said Fergus, rubbing the back of his neck.

"And why have you decided to make such an unexpected trip?" asked Elinor.

"Well, I sent out a ship a few weeks ago, and they came back and told me they had found a small group of islands. They hadn't landed though; they said they saw something strange. I don't know what could have been that bad, it's not like they've got ladies turning into bears all over the place." His last remark had been sort of a running joke throughout the family ever since Elinor had been turned into a black bear a few weeks previously.

"Yes! I love trips! This is going to be so fun. I wonder what the people will be like," said Merida happily.

"And when are we going?" asked Elinor, stirring her porridge importantly.

"Whenever. A few days at the least," replied Fergus.

"What are we going to do there, Dad?" asked Merida, bouncing up and own in her chair.

"Oh a little of this and a little of that," her father replied conversationally.

"This is going to be so fun! Maybe they'll have lots of cliffs to climb! I'll be sure to bring my bow; of course, oh I wish Angus could come too..." Merida went on excitedly, staring off into some unseen distance.

Fergus sidled over to his wife and placed a hand on hers.

"Aren't you excited? This'll be good to get away for a few days, get some fresh air, explore new grounds, and meet new folk."

"Of course I'm excited dear; I'm just concerned what will happen to everyone when we're gone. Who's going to run this place?"

"Oh come on, we've been gone before, and the village has fared just fine. I've already planned for a few of my choicest men to help carry out the duties of running a village. Honey," said Fergus, his eyes twinkling with amusement, "loosen your corset and let's have fun, alright?"

"Oh, okay," said Elinor grudgingly, and daintily picked up her spoon again to finish her food.

"I can't be that bad you know, without us there. I mean there can't be any wild bear women running loose in the village, now can there?" mused Fergus teasingly to Elinor again, who set down her spoon and glared at him.

"Honestly, that joke is getting fairly old."

"What? It's a classic! And it's true."

Behind them, the triplets made off with a platter of bacon.

**xXx**

"I do wish you would tell us where we're going," Elinor said mildly, brushing a few strands of loose hair behind her ear. Fergus moaned dramatically.

"We're already on the ship; it's too late to tell you!"

"Oh really? I think now is the most opportune moment, actually."

"Elinor, it's a surprise. I already said."

Merida rolled her eyes at her brothers. "Parents, am I right?"

Hamish, Harris, and Hubert nodded with deadpan expressions before brightening and scampering over to the side of the ship to look out at the rolling waves.

"No! Hubert! Hamish, Harris, don't lean so far over the edge! Actually, you know what, just get back over here. Come on..." Fergus snapped suddenly, startling them all with his extremely rare stern voice.

Merida stared at her father in disbelief as the three boys sidled over to Fergus with unknown obedience. Dead silence on the SS Awkward Family.

"So, uh, who's ready for, lunch?" said Fergus, breaking the silence.

"Yes, I must say I am rather hungry," said Elinor, completely unconcerned.

"Yes! Gosh, I'm starving!" said Merida enthusiastically, jumping around energetically, throwing in a few pirouetting leaps.

"I could just about eat a bear myself. Not that I would though," added Fergus hastily, pretending to cringe under Elinor's amused death glare.

The family took out their food from a little cabinet by a set of stairs, leading to the lower decks and took it over to a spot in the middle of the deck. There they sat, eating, just like they always did, with the usual: Elinor extracting the brothers from mysterious places, Fergus telling old stories for the umpteenth time, Merida sitting cross-legged and taking huge bites from her food, ignoring her mother's scowls.

Though the rest of the family did not know it, Fergus was keeping a careful eye on the clouds.

They finished up the day in a few hours. They were further up north at this point, and it got darker earlier. Merida took her younger brothers below-decks to put them to bed, as they were tired out from the day's activities. Elinor and Fergus remained on the deck, gazing up at the stars.

"Well?" Elinor said finally, glancing over at her husband. He was unusually solemn and quiet.

"Well what?"

"What was that little outburst about earlier?" Elinor pressed gently, sensing the man's unease. "You've never yelled at the boys before. Normally that's my job."

Fergus chuckled a little at the small joke. "Yes, that's true." He sighed heavily. "Being out on the sea makes me uneasy, and seeing the boys so close to falling in..."

"They would have been fine, I'm sure," Elinor replied. "They know how to swim, as does Merida and I doubt you would have let them float around for long."

"I don't want to lose anyone else like that," he said quietly. "You know why."

Elinor did know why. A few years into their marriage, she had noticed how mournful he was on a particular day of the year. She asked, and was hesitantly told that the day was his younger brother's birthday, who had been lost at sea a few decades prior. She knew that was why Fergus hated the ocean, and looking up at the dark grey sky now, she realized why he had snapped at the triplets earlier.

"Do you think it would storm?" she asked. Fergus shrugged.

"I don't know. But I don't want to be on the water, just in case. I'll ask the captain if there's anywhere we could land until the sky clears."

He turned his back and headed off, wooden leg plunking against the hard wood of the deck.

**A/N:**

**Hatsu: We're sorry. IT'S LUNA'S FAULT.**

**Luna: Yeah. No. No need to tell us how long it's been, just skip to the part about how we're wonderful writers and nothing would make you happier than the next update.**

**Hatsu: Luna is a child and feels the need to blow her own horn at every opportunity... she's literally sitting next to me giving me this look... Anyway, how was the chapter? Do you guys like it? **

**Luna: I shake my fist at you in anger.**

**Hatsu: CHILD. Whatever. Everyone give us feedback, okay? We have so many favorites and follows already, all we need are reviews now!**

**Luna: DISLIKE**

**Hatsu: She's not saying that to you guys, she's saying it to me because I'm the older sister and infinitely more mature than her. **

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heyo, Hatsu Yukiya here! Okay, on a review Luna and I got last chapter from ****Leesie3973****, there were lots of questions which I am now going to answer to the best of my ability. It'll be pretty long, so feel free to skip ahead if you want to.**

**From whose point of view is the story**?

It varies, but nobody in particular. Third-person narration and all that.

**Can we get a little more insight on the personalities of each character?**

Well yeah, but you know we're only on the third chapter, right? Stuff hasn't even gotten real yet.

**What happened after the games and the bear? Did the clans just go home?**

Remember the end of the movie? The clans went home and Elinor became Awesome McCool Mom.

**Do the sons keep in contact with Merida?**

Luna and I have this idea that they send her letters and gifts and stuff and she just ignores it all. The clans aren't really going to be touched upon in this story though; it's a family story, not a romance.

**Is Toothless going to be the only Night Fury?**

Yes. We like the idea of him being the only one in the immediate area and we're too lazy to add in more, anyway.

**How old are Merida and Hiccup?** We think they're both around fifteen. Our thought is that Merida was fifteen in her movie and still is, as of this story, while Hiccup was fourteen in his and since turned fifteen.

**Is this going to have some Hiccup x Astrid love**? Probably. We ship it.

**Does Fergus suspect his brother is on Berk?** No, Fergus thinks his brother died at sea after being thrown off the ship during a storm. Joke's on him though, isn't it?

**Why does he want to go north? Is it because of rumors of dragons?**

That may be part of it, hehe. I think it's more of he just wants to go on an exploration adventure with his family. Fergus is a quirky guy like that.

**In history, the Vikings and Celts were at war, what about that aspect?**

Meh, we're ignoring it. Fan_FICTION_, and it's not like Brave and HTTYD were totally historically accurate anyway. Besides, I highly doubt that Stoick and Fergus would each want to fight their families.

**Yikes, this is long. Hope it gives some insight on the story, though! Speaking of the story...ONWARDS!**

**XxX**

Hiccup sighed contentedly as he tossed another cod in Toothless' direction, smiling as the dragon eagerly snatched it up and swallowed it whole. He leaned against Toothless' black, scaly hide and, facing the ocean, stared out over the horizon. The sun was only just rising, sending streaks of pink and orange through the dark grey and cloudy sky. Hiccup couldn't figure out for the life of him why Toothless liked to go out flying so early, but the sleep deprivation was worth peaceful moments like these. The rest of the village would be up and active soon—there had already been a few people stirring when Hiccup and Toothless had taken off—and the peace would be shattered, but Hiccup liked the coming chaos.

Maybe chaos wasn't the right word. He liked the _activity_ Berk now presented. And, most of all, he liked being a part of it. He liked not being cast off from the village and left to his own devices. Since defeating the Green Death two months prior, life for the boy had changed drastically. The biggest change was that dragons now inhabited Berk and everyone treated them like it had always been that way. The second was...well, the attention. Hiccup was a hero, and he was still wrapping his head around that fact. As much as he liked not being useless, he was unused everyone actually liking him and always needed his help with the dragons. He was considered to be the expert on dragons which, admittedly, he kind of was. Hiccup's days were now spent running (to the best of his now limited ability) to and fro around the island taking care of all dragon-related matters.

Not all changes were positive, though. His left leg reminded him of that every time he took a step, or reached down at night to remove the prosthetic before he went to bed. But, Hiccup assumed, it was just like any of the other changes on Berk. He would get accustomed to it after time. Even if the stupid limb did currently hurt like the devil whenever he tried to go faster than a walk.

Sighing again, Hiccup turned to Toothless and said, "Hey, you ready to head in? Everyone will be out and about soon, and we have a lot of work to do?"

Toothless sent him a look that clearly said, '_You_ have a lot of work to do,' but nodded, stood, and stretched out his leathery black wings. After stretching as well, Hiccup climbed onto his friend's back and skillfully hooked himself into the harness and latched his prosthetic to the stirrup.

"Alright, let's go," he said, and the two took off into the sky, doing a couple barrel rolls as they headed towards the village, just for good measure.

The sky had lightened when they arrived in, and looking down, Hiccup could see his group of friends already saddling their dragons for the day. He and Toothless swooped down and landed gracefully a few yards away from where Ruffnut and Tuffnut were ramming their heads together angrily, as per their usual routine. Fishlegs had his nose buried in a biology book he obtained from the monthly trade ships, and Snotlout was hitting on Astrid, who rolled her eyes and shoved his face out of the way when she saw Hiccup and Toothless approaching.

"How have you been flying already?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "It's barely daylight out here."

"Yeah, well, Toothless isn't called a _Night _Fury for no reason," Hiccup replied, nudging his dragon playfully. Toothless sneezed and shoved him back. "What have we got going on today?"

"Same as usual," Fishlegs joined in without looking up from his book. "Flying practice, helping people with basic dragon-care, stuff like that."

"Boring stuff," Snotlout scoffed.

Ignoring him, Hiccup grimaced and said, "And I have to go down to the forge today, too..." There weren't enough hours in the day to accommodate all the things he had to do, and he had thanked the gods more than once for the other dragon-riding teens. Well, mostly Astrid and Fishlegs, but while Snotlout and the twins weren't _as_ helpful, they had enough enthusiasm to get the job done in the end.

"Well," he said, turning to Astrid, "we'd better get started."

"What's your dad doing today?"

Hiccup shrugged. "His basic chief things, I guess. I don't see him much during the day."

It was true. Hiccup was usually too busy during the day helping the villagers adjust to the dragons, and Stoick the Vast was typically off tending to more mundane matters. However, their relationship was vastly different than what it had been before. To Hiccup, the fact that his father was so accepting of the changes, and of his son, was the most miraculous difference of all.

Which was good. After all, they didn't have any other immediate family members. Snotlout's father Spitelout was the brother of Hiccup's mother, Valhallarama. Stoick and Spitelout did consider each other to be brothers, but there were no more Haddocks besides the chief and his son. They only had each other at this point.

Or so they thought.

**XxX**

Merida plopped down onto her bed, the air extinguishing itself from her body. Her day was exuberant for having spent it penned up on a ship. It mainly consisted of her swinging around the rigging, keeping watch over her brothers, exploring the ship, and swinging on the rigging some more while her parents weren't watching, something that greatly amused the other crew members. They seemed to have developed a certain fondness for Merida.

They had been at sail for nearly a week, and honestly, Merida had never been so eager to just get off the ship and blow it up. She could only take so much of not being able to go anywhere. However, her brothers were giving her a fair amount of trouble, and keeping them under control kept her equally busy. Her parents had given her the joyous chore of being in charge of them. Merida's brothers, Hamish, Harris and Hubert were about four years old, give or take (Merida lost count after their second birthday), were so energetic and had all the scheming and pranking ability of all their people back home, divvied up into three careless triplets.

As she stared at the ceiling, sweeping an unruly orange curl behind her ear, she wondered vaguely whether they would ever get to wherever her Dad had planned for them to go. The ship was eerily silent; the only sound was the sea water, lapping dully around the ship and the gentle creaks of the boards. Merida climbed under her covers, glad for the opportunity to sleep.

Merida was just on the brink of sleep when her cabin door flew open with a bang. Merida gave a small shriek and sat bolt upright as three dark figures hurtled through the doorway and launched themselves onto her bed. She looked up to see her father and her mother standing in the doorway. They looked exhausted. Or at least, her mother did. Her dad just looked the same as always, though his eyes were a little bloodshot.

"Hi Merida!" her father exclaimed, forcing himself through the doorway with a little difficulty due to his vast size.

"What?" asked Merida irritably, pushing a brother away from her face.

"Do you think you could take them tonight? They've been driving us insane the past few days, so we thought you might be willing to take them for the night tonight instead," her father replied.

"Do I have to?"

"Well you see dear, it would be nice to have a full eight hours sleep once in a while," said her mother, her eyes showing a trace of amusement.

"What? Don't you value my need for sleep? I mean think about what would happen if I don't get enough sleep. Now, is that what you want to have to put up with? 'Cause I can assure you, it won't be fun."

''Ah Merida, what could possibly be more fun than having a little slumber party with your three favorite younger brothers?" her dad teased, "Can you imagine the possibilities? You can have pillow fights, and maybe before you go to bed, you can tell each other secrets. You know, the stuff dainty teenage girls do."

Merida glared at him.

"Knew you'd understand," Fergus said, walking over to her and giving her a bone crushing bear hug.

"Goodnight dear," said her mother, walking forward and giving her a kiss on the forehead before cornering each of the brothers in turn and forcing them to let her plant a kiss on their cheek.

Merida grunted and shoved a brother off the bed as she lay down. As quickly as he left he was back again, with the other two and for what seemed like days, they harassed Merida, who took to ignoring them and staring at the wall. After a long while they finally nestled down under the covers with Merida. One clung to the back of her neck, another was curled up in front of her chest and the last was hugging to her back. Finally their breathing slowed and together the brothers fell asleep.

As Merida adjusted her crammed position, she thought faintly, it was lucky she didn't have any other family members.

**A/N:**

**Hatsu: Well. We've certainly made progress. But hey, INSIGHT ON BERK.**

**Luna: Hi. Action-packed, adrenaline pinching, gut wrenching chapter wasn't it? But it's okay because, this story is not meant to wrench your guts.**

**Hatsu: It probably won't be that intense in the end, no... It's a family story. It's not meant to have a crap-ton of romance and drama and bloody fighting at all.**

**Luna: Okay, the next chapter will be more exciting. So please review! That would like make my life.**

**Hatsu: We got so many reviews on the last chapter, ohmygod. It was amazing. Can we please get that many again? Thanks!**

**Luna: Bye.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Land ho!"

Merida's eyes flew open at the sound of the lookout's voice. Sunlight streamed through her cabin window, temporarily blinding her. Attempting to sit up, she realized there was a brother precariously burrowed in a deep nest in her hair. It took her no less than four times to try to untangle the still sleeping body from her explosion of fiery red hair, and after achieving her goal at last she shot out of her bed. She tripped over a discarded pillow and glanced at the demolished room. Looking back down at the brother her hair had practically given birth to she noticed that that was one of the more normal positions in her brothers' case. Hamish was slumped on top of the wardrobe, drool reaching clear down to the floor. Another brother had his body wedged in between the door frame and the door itself with his lower half sticking in the side with Merida and the other brothers. The last had of course somehow ended up in her hair but had now been safely tipped onto the bed.

"Up, up, up!" yelled Merida, running around the room and freeing her brothers from their odd sleeping positions. She scooped up the brother she suspected to be Hubert and quickly swiped up the drool on his face. She ran over to Hamish and gently opened the door and grabbed her little brother by the pants. Three pairs of eyes blinked up her drowsily.

"We made it! We found land! Time to go upstairs, come on now…"

Merida scooped up her brothers and ran as quickly as she could to the main deck. She set down her brothers, who scuttled away mischievously, and walked to her parents' side.

"Good morning, darling," Elinor greeted her daughter. "Sleep well?"

"'Bout as well as I could with the devils," Merida answered cheerily. Her father pulled her into a one-armed hug and ruffled her hair, but she noticed he seemed somewhat moody and downcast.

"I'm off to have a word with the lookout," he said, and turned to leave, peg-leg clunking against the hard wood of the deck.

Frowning, Merida turned to Elinor, "What's wrong with Dad? He's been off-kilter this whole trip. Not normal for him at all, it isn't."

Elinor sighed and smiled softly at the girl. "He doesn't like the sea much. He's got a good reason not to; it can be mighty dangerous in times of foul weather." She indicated towards the dark and gloomy skies. "We've spotted land, so now he's relieved that we can get off the water before the storm hits. The island we're nearing isn't the destination we had in mind, but it'll give us a chance to stretch our legs and restock on whatever we need. Your father sent a rowboat ahead to tell the people we'll be docking."

Merida's face lit up. "So there are people on the island?"

"Yes, there appears to be a village. Hopefully they're as accommodating as we need."

The teenager squealed, "Ah, I'm so excited! This is turning out to be quite the adventure isn't it, Mum? Are you looking forward to it?"

"I was looking forward to a nice, quiet trip actually," her mother replied mildly, "but with your father the possibility was thrown out the window before I could even get my hopes up."

Merida laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder, leaning into the cool sea breeze. "You can say that all you want Mum, but I know you're about to enjoy yourself. I'm certain I will."

Elinor didn't say anything to that, but merely joined her daughter in enjoying the wind. Her lips quirked up in a smile. With her family, it would be an adventure indeed.

Behind them, the triplets made their way up to the mast with eighteen salted fish, a large white sheet, and several of their sister's arrows. The sailors took note of them, but made no attempt to stop them. Every attempt to do so had ended badly on their part.

Fergus limped over to them excitedly, clearly overjoyed.

"We're here! I can't believe it, this is going to be quite the trip!" Fergus shouted.

"Mmm, and I'm sure they're going to have the time of their lives trying to keep up with your appetite," Elinor, looking up to him.

Merida giggled and said," Almost like feeding a bear, right Mum?"

One of the crewship members walked up hesitantly to Fergus, obviously nervous about intruding, " Sir, we've sent out a boat to inform the leader of our arriving. We've got the dock and the anchor ready too. We should arrive in about five minutes time."

"Right. Thanks, lad." As the man walked away, Fergus turned to his family and gave a most un-Fergus-ish giggle and twisted his hands together. He seemed more ecstatic about this whole thing than usual, especially considering that this new island wasn't even their original destination, as far as Merida knew.

"Merida dear, go fetch your belongings, and be ready to help with your brothers. Oh where are they? I swear they've probably already made it to the island..." Merida's mother seemed distracted as she looked around for the triplets. Fergus left again to help bring crates and burlap sacks to the deck.

Merida flew back the way she came, and skidded into her room. She scrambled around the room, throwing random things pell-mell into her traveling bag; her formal dress she was supposed to be wearing today for the arrival, pillows, an apple core, one of the triplet's teddy bears, and a hairbrush she never used. She strapped her belt with her quiver and arrows to her waist and left the room again, bag over one shoulder and bow over the other.

She reached the deck again to people scrambling every where for last minute preparations. Three crew members were searching for the triplets, the rest of the crew bringing in the sails and unrealing the anchor. Elinor was smoothing her hair back and staightening her crown. Fergus was putting on his heavy belt with the Dun'Broch crest welded into the buckle. Merida made her way through the scrambling people over to her parents. Something slammed into her leg and she looked down to see one of her brothers running away from a crew member.

Before he could get away, Merida snatched the boy off the ground and held onto him firmly as he wriggled in an attempt to get free. Merida was actually surprised she had caught him, they were usually so hard to capture. She wondered where the other little devils were since they usually traveled in a pack.

"Here ya go Mum, I caught you a wee devil." Merida held up the brother to Elinor. He gave a toothy grin and sneezed. Merida liked to assume she just saved someone from a terrible mishap.

"You didn't try to find the other two?" Elinor asked, shocked as if she expected Merida to really care where her brothers were. In reality, Merida actually thought it was quite funny and even helped them smuggle things in and out from time to time. Though of course after awhile she did get annoyed at how easily they pulled it off and just went back to ignoring them.

"Uh, no. Do you know how hard it was just catching this one?" She shook her brother, Hubert, slightly.

"Oh aren't you a little master of mystery?" Elinor took her son and firmly held him as to prevent another escape.

"Hey Mer, maybe you'll meet your prince charming here!" Fergus teased. Aside from the continous bear references, there was also a fair amount of jokes about the fact that Merida wanted to stay single.

Merida groaned and swatted her father playfully on the arm. "You leave me alone! I can't imagine we'll be staying long enough for that, not that I'd even like for such a thing to happen."

"That is true," he admitted. "We're only here to restock and wait out the storm and we'll be well on our way."

"I called it," Merida replied with a grin. "I suppose you'd like for me to go find the other two, then?"

"It would be appreciated."

It turns out she didn't have far to look, however, because just then Harris and Hamish came flying down from the sails, holding fast to Merida's stolen arrow and effectively slicing a large slit in the main sail as they went. They slapped the captain with a fish as they went, just for good measure.

The crewmen, of course, were fairly upset and the captain was livid, but as the royal family was used to this sort of behavior they just let it slide. God forbid there were any children as mischevious as the triplets on the unfamiliar island, lest they actually team up and cause twice the chaos.

_Well, _Merida thought, smiling to herself as she watched her brothers enact their pirate-esque game, _It would be rather more interesting that way._

* * *

The Thorston twins were very bored.

"Gods," Tuffnut groaned, leaning back lazily and nearly falling off his head of their shared Zippleback. "We always get the bad jobs. 'Take Trader Johann back to Berk! Don't tip over the cattle, fix them! Straighten these barrels!' It sucks!"

"You're telling me?" his sister scoffed. Ruffnut had mastered the art of sitting on a dragon in increasingly strange positions, and was now laying backwards against the head of her dragon, braiding and unbraiding her hair. "It's like they think we'll always break stuff if they let us do the cool things."

"Well, we do like breaking stuff," Tuffnut pointed out. Ruffnut didn't waste any time in agreeing, but in another moment they were slumped back down on their respective dragon heads, staring lazily over the horizon from the cliff Belch and Barf was perched on. They were too lazy to even beat up on each other like they usually did. They'd even gotten their jobs done. It was rare that the usually hyperactive twins were so lacking in energy.

After a few more listless minutes of doing absolutely nothing, Ruffnut sat up suddenly and pointed out over the sea.

"Hey, what's that?"

Tuffnut squinted and followed her gaze. "Uh...clouds?"

"No, you idiot. It's sails."

"Oh. Then why'd you ask me what they were?!"

"Shut up, it doesn't matter!" Ruffnut reached over to smack her brother upside the head, dodged his retaliation attempt, and continued, "It's a ship. Coming here."

"...Why? What's here?"

She shrugged. "Hell if I know. Maybe it's traders."

They both thought about that for a minute, then grinned at each other.

"They'll have _stuff!"_

Without another word, the two excitedly seated themselves properly on their dragon and took off towards the docks. When the visitors or traders or whoever was coming showed up, they'd be the first to greet them.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Luna:...Hi guys. Whoops was that two months? I know it's been and usually is a while inbetween updates and I'm really sorry about that, but in our own defense (There's really no excuse for laziness but) we've both been super obsessed with RISE OF THE GURADIANS lately, and we don't always live in the same house. We also have a ton of school, I'm not the brightest peacock in the featherbed, so... Yeah we know, we're lazy, we get it though. No need to continually remind us about that. **

**Hatsu: ..."Brightest peacock in the featherbed"? Whatever. Anyway, yes, since Rise of the Guardians has all but taken over our lives (mine especially) we haven't really been focusing on other stuff lately. Fucking Jack Frost. But, in any case, have this crappy filler chapter. Yeah, we're stalling becausewe'relazy. But the fun stuff will get rolling soon. **

**Luna: Also, I felt bad about always leaving you guys hanging (Some of your reviews are hilarious by the way) so I sort of pestered Hatsu to help me write and get this crazy thing going. In spite of me feeling bad, I wanted to give you guys an extra long chapter. We previously did a different A/N, but for unknown reasons we had to do a new one. As always, please review and thank you for reading!**


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